Computing devices, which have been ubiquitous for years, are increasingly becoming critical tools to professionals and employees at all levels and in all positions. Government employees, researchers, law enforcement, national security and intelligence officers, and military personnel rely heavily on technology to perform their jobs. However, people in these roles must be able to rely on their computing devices to provide a secure system of information storage that is not susceptible to intrusion by outsiders or unauthorized users. Biometric authentication is often considered for providing secure access to computing devices in use by people in such roles.
Biometric authentication relates to automatically and uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. Biometric authentication often involves technologies that measure and analyze human physical and behavioral characteristics. Examples of physical characteristics include fingerprints, retinas, irises, facial patterns and hand measurements, while examples of mostly behavioral characteristics include signature, gait and typing patterns. Voice is considered a mix of both physical and behavioral characteristics.
To obtain access to a secure device, a user provides a candidate physical characteristic (a biometric candidate). Authenticating the user involves comparing the biometric candidate to a previously recorded, corresponding biometric template. To facilitate this comparison, the previously recorded, corresponding biometric entry may be digitized and stored as the biometric template. Additionally, collection of a biometric candidate from the user involves obtaining a digital representation of one or more physical characteristics of the user.
In many instances, the device that obtains a biometric candidate is different from the device that uses the biometric candidate to authenticate a user and these devices may be distinct from a further device that stores biometric templates necessary for comparison during authentication.